Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting - 5 May 2022
Present: P Hartley Chairman, P Knowlson, Cllr D Dennis, Cllr J Wood, Harriet Phillips, Headteacher Collingbourne School), Mr D Paterson (Chair, Collingbourne Ducis Village Hall Trust, Wilts Cllr C Williams and Mr P Gill (Clerk) and 3 members of the public.
Apologies for absence: Cllr S Batley, Cllr S Lyons Cllr L Gomes, Cllr K Cockerton, Cllr K Bell, Mr G Hooper (Collingbournes, Chutes & Everleigh Link Scheme) and PCSO P Brewer.
Annual Report of the Parish Council.
The Chairman reported that despite the frictions highlighted, the Parish Council has continued to deliver on key projects for the Parish. The installation of the Speed Indicator Device and the support it has provided the now established Speedwatch Team in support of road safety, the completion of the new, aesthetically sympathetic, Bush Shelter on the Everleigh Road junction and the continued success of the Christmas Brunch are the natural highlights.
There has been much more that has gone on behind the scenes to ensure the Parish is looking as welcoming and delightful as it has ever been, all whilst remaining in a financially stable and responsible state. Our successes over the last 12 months could not be achieved without the dedicated contribution the Parish Councillors have provided. We are blessed with a large team, currently 9 of 11 but growing, who dedicate a significant amount of their personal time for the benefit of the wider Parish.
In the context of Collingbourne Ducis, it a healthy cross-section of representation from across the Parish, with diverse views that only serve to strengthen the discussions had and decisions made. Looking forward, in a post-lockdown environment, improving and reinvigorating engagement with and to the Parish Council will be key focus. The redesign and refresh of the Parish Website will provide better opportunity to engage with an increasingly tech savvy community, and refined, improved and clearer alignment of Parish Councillor liaison responsibilities will enable better engagement with key organisations we support or are supported by.
Some of our links are strong and have recovered well following COVID-19 restrictions. Others, with engagement (or lack of) from Wiltshire Police being a good example, have not recovered at the same rate and continue to be sub-optimal. Resilience and reinvigoration of relationships will be our focus with the upcoming Platinum Jubilee celebrations, which the Parish Council is heavily supporting, set to provide a key moment to bring the community together.
There were no questions from those present.
Summary of the Council’s financial performance for the year ended 31 March 2022.
The Clerk presented the following summary: The Parish Council’s financial reserves for FY 21/22 at £35,874 were £9786 higher mainly due to an increase in grant income and the delaying of the bus Shelter Project until Apr 22.
The total expenditure was £23,010 against a budget of £27,659. The £ 4,649 underspend was mainly due to the Bus Shelter Project being carried forward into FY 22/23.
Income was £32,696 against a budget of £27,358 the excess was mainly due to £2,352 increase in grant funding and a £2,583 CIL payment from Wilts Council. Furthermore, reserves now stand at £35,874 against £26,188 for FY 21/22 of which £7.5K is earmarked for the Bus Shelter Project.
The Parish Council's resolved to increase its reserves to 100% of the Precept i.e., £23707 which is £9,081 higher than for FY 20/21 in order to help fund as yet to be identified future projects.
There were no questions from those present.
Head Teacher's Report from Collingbourne C E Primary School
Harriet Phillips presented the following report: Summer was a difficult time for the School and the Village. The school were supported well by the Salisbury Diocese and Wiltshire County Council, when a serious incident occurs there are many professionals that offer support and advice. The school worked under the guidance of experts to support each other during this very difficult time. Mr Dan Crossman secured a new position as Headteacher at Marlborough St Mary’s a large primary school in Marlborough in July 2021. I was appointed in October 2021 to take up post in January 2022. Dan and I worked closely together to handover the leadership of the school. I have been overwhelmed by the welcome I have received from the school and wider community, Collingbourne Ducis is a very friendly place indeed!
In January we reintroduced midday hot dinners and started using the village hall again for these, a decision warmly welcomed by parents, children and the catering company.
Covid 19 still provided the school with challenges throughout terms 3 and 4 with regular communication with Public Health England to guide and support us with best practise, we did have to change daily routines on occasions that we had an ‘outbreak’. The impact on staffing was not as bad as in some schools locally but did still provide a challenge! The staff were truly amazing and stepped up to support when needed without question.
After school clubs started again in Term 4 with staff offering Cookery, board games, Benchball and choir, for children to try on a Monday, Tuesday or Thursday after school.
We had a non-uniform day top raise money for the Disaster Emergency Committee to support families from Ukraine.
During term 4 we were able to have face to face meetings with people again and it was great to welcome parents into the school building- some had never done this before! April was the month of the military child, we marked this by inviting parents to talk about jobs in the forces, such an inspiration.
James and Laura Jackson kindly donated a friendship bench to the school in memory of Eloise, Mr Crossman came to the ceremony and cut the ribbon.
You may have noticed new signs on the gates around school, we decided to name them so everyone was clear which gate was being discussed, the children designed the signs and we were very grateful to Steve Clements for producing them for us.
The PTA organised a brilliant Easter Bingo that lots of families from the school enjoyed, there was chocolate a plenty!
Term 5 brought us some more easing of Covid restrictions and with it some relaxing of control measures in school, this brought with it increased flexibility for staff and more opportunities for the children, teachers have started planning visits, children in Otter Class are off to Oxenwood for a one night residential and Roman experience, the Hedgehogs are going to visit Salisbury Cathedral and the Foxes are off to Cotswold Wildlife Park. Something for us all to get excited about.
We have exciting plans for a party in school to celebrate the Queens platinum jubilee in the week before half term, we will have some traditional games for the children to take part in and we will have a street party style lunch on the playground.
Our Year 6 children are busy preparing for SATs assessments which have not taken place for the past 2 years, these assessments will give us a clear understanding of our position nationally for the first time since 2019.
No questions were asked and The Chairman then thanked Harriet Phillips for presenting the report.
Report from Wiltshire Cllr Williams. Wilts Cllr Williams reported the following: Wiltshire is a thriving county with a rich and diverse heritage. We are home to half a million people and around half of the population live in towns and villages with fewer than 5,000 residents.
Our strong and cohesive communities continue to be some of our proudest achievements and the way we look out for each other and handle the challenges we have faced together is what makes our beautiful County the best place to live, work and raise a family. As a council we know our purpose.We want the people of Wiltshire to be empowered to live full, healthy and enriched lives. We want our communities to be beautiful and exciting places to live. We want our local economy to thrive and be supported by a skilled workforce. We want to lead the way in how councils and counties mitigate the climate challenges ahead. We are committed to listening to and speaking for Wiltshire. The council is a modern and democratic organisation that focuses on learning and adapting at pace, paying continuous attention to our area's changing needs and ensuring we do what is right for the people of Wiltshire. As a result, we are continually reviewing and refining our services to deliver better outcomes that empower local people. In all that we do we must continue to be inclusive and focus on preventing problems from arising, acting quickly when they do. We must strive to improve social mobility to ensure inequalities in our communities can be reduced. As we deliver on our next business plan, it is vital we focus on the long-term challenges and plan accordingly. We need to be clear about what we want to achieve, and we will do so by working closely with our local communities and partners as we cannot achieve anything in isolation. The administration will ensure we continue to work with and for our local communities to keep Wiltshire the distinctive place it is, creating pride in our county and our strong communities. It will be courageous and assured in what it is doing, focused on doing what is right for Wiltshire over the long term and taking the kind of action that may not yet have been seen elsewhere.
Wilts Cllr Williams then answered questions from those present and The Chairman confirmed that the Council would continue in its efforts to lobby for reductions in the speed limits within the village.
The Chairman then thanked Wilts Cllr Williams for his report.
Report from Wiltshire Constabulary. PCSO Pippa Brewer reported the following by email:
Reassurance patrols, Collingbourne Kingston & Ducis – Following theft of catalytic converters.
We have been receiving a number of reports of rogue traders knocking on doors. Please ensure you check the ID of any visitors. Also, if anybody does come to your door offering work, it is a legal requirement for them to provide a quite a give you a cooling off period of at least 14 days. Should you have any suspicions of anybody knocking on your door please call 101 or in an emergency call 999.
Numerous other activities have been carried out, which cannot be disclosed for operational reasons
The Chairman thanked PCSO Brewer for her report and reinforced what he had said in his report regarding lack of police engagement.
Report from the Collingbournes Chute & Everleigh Link Scheme. Mr G Hooper ChairmanCollingbournes, Chute and Everleigh LINK Scheme presented the following by email:Firstly, I must say a big thank you to my fellow Committee Members and our wonderful volunteers, who have struggled through the past two years to keep our Link Scheme going, and to be relevant through those difficult times. And then I must thank both our new Honorary Treasurer, Judy, who has joined us to replace Eliza in that important position, and Annette, who I am delighted to say has agreed to become our new Honorary Secretary. To have had both these important positions now filled so ably will, I know, help our Link Scheme to run much more smoothly and efficiently. So once again, thank you Annette and Judy, and thank you to the other Committee Members for yourPerseverance. During 2021 our Link Scheme has been working at a generally lower level than previously, due to Covid restrictions. We collected food and medications for clients but our usual diet of trips to hospitals and doctors’ surgeries was in general curtailed.
Some of our drivers have also ceased volunteering for Link in the past two years, and as usual we are hungry for new volunteers. Our connection with the other 41 Link Schemes across Wiltshire is through Community First, which is a charity itself connected to Wiltshire Council, and the performance of all these Wiltshire Link Schemes is summarised annually in the “Link Scheme Audit”. For the past year, 2021, Link Scheme volunteers travelled a total of 750,402 miles. This is more than 20% fewer than in a normal year but is still more than driving thirty times around the earth! The time donated by Link volunteers helped save the NHS and Wiltshire Council more than a million pounds in transport costs, but more importantly, we helped more than 23,000 clients get to their destinations. Our immediate task, now life is slowly getting back to normal, is I believe to find the way of continuing to help our clients, and by publicising our service to get back to the levels that we used to achieve. We have maintained sufficient funds during these past two years and as we continue towards 2023 I am confident that we are financially sound.
So, our urgent need now is for more volunteers, to give a little of their time to help their neighbours get to a medical appointment, or shopping, or perhaps to a local optician. Milage costs are paid, and the amount of time offered is up to each driver. It is also an opportunity to ‘put something back’ into our wonderful local community. Volunteers can find out more by calling the Link telephone number 01264 850807, or by calling me on 01264 850298. There is absolutely no pressure, and all new volunteers receive a welcome pack.
The Chairman thanked Mr Hooper for his report.
Report and Statement of Accounts from Collingbourne Ducis Village Hall Trust. Mr D Paterson Chairman of the Collingbourne Ducis Village Trust reported that The Village Hall Committee have continued to strive to provide a first-class facility for all villagers to use, throughout the second year of the Covid Pandemic. At times this has been difficult, juggling the needs of the community with national regulations and caring for the general well-being of our users. I think we have achieved this. A gradual re-opening has allowed village groups, organisations and private hirers to use the Hall in a safe environment. This is continuing with more and more use of the Hall, re-affirming its value to our community. We have been very grateful to the Wiltshire Village Hall's Association for their advice and support throughout this period. Financially, you will see from our annual figures for 2020-2021, that these show we have managed to retain the status quo alongside continuing to improve our facilities. During this year. The tennis court was completely re-furbished and is now used more widely. The disabled toilet, (also used by Dragonflies) was re-vamped. A large and welcome donation has enabled us to fit acoustic panels to the main hall ceiling. We are supporting Film Place in their aim to provide a permanent projector and improved sound system. Following a full electrical inspection, required improvements were undertaken. Items within our Development plan have been achieved. We are continuing to seek grant support for our storage extension, we are planning to completely re-new the toilet area and we are hoping to re-instate our re-decoration programme. All of this would not be possible without the hard work and efforts of a superb Management Committee. Their voluntary support and time given enable us to continue to work with the community, providing a service second to none.
The Chairman thanked Mr Paterson for his report.
Written Resolutions.
There being no resolutions to consider the Chairman thanked the speakers and those in attendance and closed the meeting at 7.45pm
